Silence of the Crows
by UrbanMermaid
Summary: Itachi seeks out a ghost in his past, only to become haunted by it. As his sight becomes increasingly weaker and his body subsides to his illness, the only thing left to do is soothe the pain.
1. Chapter 1

"You haven't told me where we're going yet, Itachi." Kisame uttered under his breath as he leaped from branch to branch through the trees, the only reply he got being the chirping of birds and rustling leaves. "By the looks of it, we're heading up north, straight toward Konoha." Again, it was only Itachi's silence he was left to take as an answer. "Not that I mind coming back here, but what might the reason be this time? Surely the Leader isn't planning anything for now."

But even Kisame could tell when his partner was in a bad mood and today was one of those days so his questions had to wait at least until Itachi was feeling less like beating him to a bloody pulp. As far as he knew, it was nothing concerning his younger brother, nor any secret mission the Leader had entrusted him with so soon after completing their previous one. Something else was going on. As for Konoha, Kisame had been right. The walls were already in sight and Itachi was still heading full speed toward them. What could be so important for them to return to the Fire Country?

"Kisame."

"Hai!"

"Let's wait for nightfall."

The curt order was respected at once. They both stopped between the branches of the trees, where no one could spot them unless looking for them on purpose. Kisame leaned against the rough bark, still expecting an explanation that he knew wasn't going to come; at least not from this Itachi. So he waited, counting the moments it took the light of the setting sun to fade to an absolute darkness, as his partner had chosen a moonless night to sneak into his old home village.

They moved swiftly, sneaking past the walls without any problem and dashing across the streets at a speed Kisame considered no less suspicious than their red-cloud robes. After their last infiltration, everyone in Konoha knew how Akatsuki affiliates looked like and if anyone spotted them their visit would be shorter than they had expected. If only he knew what Itachi was up to – it irked him not to know what was going on.

Itachi stopped at an intersection and seemed to focus his charka. Kisame waited respectfully, his tongue itching to utter the dreaded question. But the raven-haired man didn't give him much time to think about his itching tongue because he resumed his fast pace, leaving the streets of Konoha for the rooftops. It was a quiet night, so quiet their steps seemed to echo too loudly into the night and its hollow depth. Finally, he stopped again, this time in front of a window, through which a simple room could be seen. In the bed underneath the window, a man could be seen sleeping with a kunai close to his head, tightly held in his fist.

"What are we doing here? Who is that man?" Kisame decided to try his luck again.

Surprisingly, this time Itachi replied, and the fact that he replied was far less astounding than his words.

"My former ANBU teammate."

"Who are you two and why are you sneaking around?" another voice surprised them, making Kisame turn around instantly and Itachi close his eyes patiently, taking in the sound of the familiar voice. "Akatsuki!" he spat, his grip on the kunai tightening until his knuckles became white. "I'm warning you, don't try anything. Now, turn around. Slowly." He said, looking at Itachi without taking his eyes off Kisame for too long either.

Itachi turned his head only and fixed the man with one blazing sharingan orb, making him start visibly in surprise, his kunai slightly hesitating in the air.

"Uchiha Itachi!" he exclaimed in a whispered voice. "What in the name of the earth are you doing here?!"

Kisame grinned.

"Hey, no wonder you were ANBU teammates. You almost got **me** fooled with that sleeping replica."

"Don't tell me this weird looking brute is your partner."

Itachi finally turned around completely, apparently oblivious to the man's weapon aimed at his heart. Kisame bit his tongue after looking at his partner, deciding it was better to leave things to him this time. The man continued, in a cold tone.

"Why are you here? I'm sure this is not just a courtesy visit."

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed, glowering spitefully.

"Where's Shikyo?"

Kisame watched as the man's face changed color at the sound of the name, but he quickly recomposed and shook his head.

"How am I supposed to know? She's a missing-nin. If I knew where she was, she'd be dead by now."

At the end of this confession, Kisame heard what he thought was a low sigh coming from his partner.

"You know where she is, Koichi." He hissed like a snake ready to sink its fangs into the flesh of its victim.

The man's heart was starting to flutter nervously. He fidgeted, trying to stretch his lips in a confident smile Itachi didn't buy.

"What makes you think that?"

"I have no time for such foolish games. You will either tell me where she went, or I will hurt you and you will tell me where she went."

The other man seemed to take his time considering the two options, but finally sighed contemptuously and spoke.

"You're the same man I knew, Uchiha Itachi. Damn you. She went into hiding and as far as I know, she should still be in Yukigakure."

Itachi gazed deep into his eyes to make sure the man wasn't lying, then knocked him unconscious with a single swirl of his sharingan and off they were, heading north again, to Yukigakure as Kisame suspected. The Kirigakure nin waited until they were safely away from Konoha to resume his train of questions as to who these characters were and why was Itachi going through so much trouble to trace them.

"Who's this Shikyo we're after?"

Itachi didn't feel like giving any explanation. He was tired from the previous day of constant traveling and from tampering with Koichi's mind so that he wouldn't remember anything of that late-night visit and the last thing he needed was a curious Kisame to stick his nose in his business. However, this man was his partner and was ready to stand by his side should anything unexpected occur, so the least he could do was explain the situation to him.

"My other former ANBU teammate."

He couldn't understand why suddenly this man who had broken all ties to Konoha and those he'd left behind was suddenly so dedicated to finding his former partner in a remote location such as Yukigakure. Itachi had never spoken about his childhood or his experience as an ANBU, so Kisame found it curious for them to trace one of his long lost partners. Even so, he refrained from asking anymore questions, for fear Itachi might both get angry with him and not give him any answers as well.

The trip to Yukigakure was over in less than a week, which was quite fast considering the distance between Konoha and Yuki, but then again, Itachi didn't like to waste any time and Kisame didn't mind going along, with his immense chakra supply. The weather proved to be their biggest hinder, holding them back one night, during a snow storm.

Yukigakure had always been a village too small to enter any conflicts and was, therefore, home to neutrality - a no man's land where most ninja were refugees who had fled their countries in search for adventure or after committing certain irresponsible deeds. The power of this nation surged from the mercenaries who had established their headquarters there, either in small organizations which were a far cry from the elusive Akatsuki, or merely working as freelancers.

"So, where should we start looking for her?" Kisame asked as they entered the village that cold morning, stopping to look around at the snow-covered buildings around them. "How about some hot sake? You sure look like you need it." He muttered under his breath, his voice ragged after running for so long without a break.

Without any words to approve or disprove Kisame's suggestion, Itachi moved toward the first inn he saw, with his blue-skinned partner gladly following. The warmth inside soaked their freezing bones, making them feel like they were melting with pleasure. The unpleasant tingling that followed brought with it a wish to get back outside, in the cold. However, they went to the bar and sat, Kisame ordering two cups of sake and more to come. After bringing their order, the bartender asked politely if they were going to stay for the night, a question to which Kisame and Itachi both answered at the same time: one with a yes, the other with a dark no.

As the warm liquid made its way down Itachi's throat and into his stomach, the tickling pain of his body becoming gradually less numb began to fade into a pleasant sensation. A hot bath would have been perfect, but they had no time for such things, because they needed to get to Shikyo as soon as possible.

"Sake."

The curt order captured Itachi's attention and he looked at the person sitting on the chair next to him. If the voice had got his attention with its familiarity, then the curly red hair sprawled across the woman's back to her waist removed any shadow of a doubt that so little effort could be repaid so quickly. Even though it had been almost eight years since he'd last seen her and the features of her face were vague in his mind, that flaming red hair was something that could not so easily fade in his memories of her.

"You seem surprised to see me, Itachi-san." The woman suddenly spoke, without looking at him from behind the red curls protecting her face from him.

Kisame looked in surprise at the redhead, wondering if it was possible Shikyo had found them instead of them looking for her all over Yukigakure. Itachi didn't let any of his surprise surface and the kunoichi didn't look at them. She took a sip of the sake the bartender had brought her and remained silent, her lashes half down to her pale cheek, on which no freckles could be seen.

"After all" she continued, in the same flat tone "It's been a long time."

The woman turned her face to the Uchiha, fixing him with a pair of cold, grey eyes that sparkled vividly from behind red curls. Her face was heart-shaped, adorned with full lips on which no smirk was a stranger and steel-grey eyes hard behind the complex net of curled, dark lashes. However, her life as a kunoichi had not left her unmarked, as a scar betrayed that peculiar beauty, starting from the corner of her left eye to her temple, surrounded by soft wrinkles implied by the difficult healing process of an old wound.

"So. What are you doing here?" the woman asked, returning to her sake after scrutinizing Kisame to the smallest of details. "Akatsuki never come here."

"I was looking for you." He replied, finishing his sake.

"Oh? And what business might Itachi Uchiha have with me?" the redhead frowned, pushing her sake cup away.

His eyes narrowed, watching her slender hand move to a pocket in her robes to take out a thin cigarette she lit elegantly after placing it between her rosy lips. Kisame ordered himself another drink after receiving no reply from his partner at his offer to buy him too another drink. It seemed he was out of the discussion for a while.

"How far has your research on the sharingan gone?"

She turned her head, putting on a poker face to hide her surprise.

"Not far. After you were gone, I had no one to experiment with. Kakashi wasn't a very good test subject since he wasn't an Uchiha and your little brother… well, to be honest, even after he gained the sharingan he would have been nothing more than a waste of my time."

"And your medical skills?"

"Just enough to keep myself alive through injury." She said after a small pause and a suspicious gaze.

Kisame finished another bottle of sake, listening to the discussion with much more interest that he was capable of showing. Itachi had been curiously talkative, almost keeping what could vaguely be called a conversation going. Shikyo, however, seemed reluctant to share her experience with him.

"You're losing your sight." She stated casually all of the sudden, sipping the last drop of sake from her cup. "I can't help you, unless you want someone to just soothe the pain when necessary."

Without another word, Itachi stood up, leaving money for both his and Kisame's sake, then paced toward the door, the tall, blue-skinned shinobi following him closely, sulking a bit for the sake he'd not been able to finish. The bartender looked at the redhead gazing in space and frowned, not sure that the two creepy-looking fellows wouldn't come back if she were still there. The woman noticed and threw a glare at him, finishing her sake in one sip before paying and leaving the inn.

"Nee, Itachi. Who was that woman?" Kisame insisted on getting information, having won more guts after drinking quite a few cups of sake.

"Shikyo of the Kobura clan in Konoha."

"Never heard of it." The blue man shrugged.

Itachi didn't bother continue with details as of why that clan wasn't at all known, although his knowledge about it was vast, having been Shikyo's ANBU captain for almost a year. Kisame also felt too drowsy to ask anything else, so they kept on a steady pace for a while, with the howling wind wheezing in their ears and cold snow falling off branches under their feet. In the end, it had all been for nothing. For a moment, just a moment, Itachi had actually put all of his hope in that woman, only to be let down. Years before, when she was on his ANBU team, her medical skills had earned great expectancy, portraying her a successful future as a medic-nin, but now, to hear that all she could use them for was 'keep herself alive through injury', it made him so spiteful toward her that he almost regretted not killing her on the spot. What else was she good for now anyway? Cooking?


	2. Chapter 2

Kisame found it hard to believe all their effort had been for nothing, but it seemed to be so. Itachi hadn't uttered a word since they'd left Snow and they were closing in on the nearest Akatsuki base, which happened to be the one in Waterfall. They'd been traveling for three days, with small breaks for sleep, water and some food. Heaven forbid they failed to report if Pein needed them some place else in a certain amount of time.

The Uchiha suddenly headed downwards, leaping through the branches until him and Kisame both reached ground, then walked to a hidden nearby cave. The blue nin removed the bushes so that they could sneak past them inside it and then carefully placed them back as they were, concealing the entrance. Itachi walked along the tunnel until he reached an underground chamber illuminated by a pool of dark blue water in which a ceiling adorned with glowing crystals reflected. Kisame grinned as he jumped into the water after his partner, both swimming along an underwater passage that led to the secret Akatsuki headquarters.

It took Itachi no less than a minute to get to the other side, drenched and secretly hungry for oxygen, as he had consumed most of it using muscles to swim on his way through the underwater tunnel. Kisame, on the other hand, actually seemed rejuvenated. Once at the surface, he gave the same grin of satisfaction and looked at his partner, who was rising on the ground from the water.

"Home sweet home, eh? One of them, at least."

Itachi didn't mind him for a moment, merely continuing his way through the empty, torch-lit chambers. He stopped in the hallway for a moment, sensing another charka signature in the building, one which seemed to be Kakuzu's, and then turned left down another narrow hallway by the stairs and into a dark area lit only by small luminous crystals emerging from the cave walls next to a couple of closed doors. Not bothering waiting for Kisame, he disappeared behind one of the doors, shutting himself in his private space for a while.

It was a small room, just like all others, probably less crowded by clay figures, like in Deidara's case, or worshiping objects, like in Hidan's, but nonetheless, it was his intimate space in which he could release himself from the confines of his cloak. There was no window, just a barred shaft that brought fresh air from a long way up. On a wall, a single torch lay untouched for a long time under a small sheath of dust – he lit it, placing it back in its iron holder. The bed had clean sheets of a dark, uncertain color and next to it, on the end table, were a few scrolls probably containing weapons. Aside from those, there were others on a few shelves against the wall, along with some books and small objects. Another door led to an even smaller bathroom with a welcoming tub and hot spring water.

He threw his cloak on the bed and entered the bathroom, removing his hidden pouches and weapons one by one, until finally, he was left only in his clothes. He looked at himself in the mirror, following the deep-set lines on his face; his vision faltered for a moment, reducing them to nothing more than a blurry haze, only to come back to normal again. His stomach cringed. The scarlet sharingan faded to the blue-black of his natural eyes, bringing his sight back to an altered normal, as the lack of accuracy and depth caused by the absence of the sharingan usually came along with blurry vision and pain.

Itachi propped his arms on the sink for support, trembling with his eyes closed, waiting for the sudden pain to dull. His breathing was ragged, his eyes closed tightly in response to the excruciating pain and his whole body was breaking a sweat. It took him minutes to calm down – this highly sensitized Itachi was harder to force behind the usual mask, especially since he was all alone and no one could witness his greatest weakness. Slowly, he regained his composure, his breathing came back to normal and he ceased trembling. He opened his eyes and looked back at the dim figure in the mirror before letting the water run and undressing himself. He let his sweat drenched clothes fall in a pile on the cold floor and stepped into the tub, slowly sinking in the hot water.

His sore muscles began to relax and a pleasurable pain invaded his body, making him finally feel the tiredness of that long journey. He leaned his head back against the wall, closing his eyes as he allowed himself a deep sigh, slowly drifting to sleep. The sound of bells startled him and he jolted up, looking around with his instinctively active sharingan, only to discover that there was no one else in the bathroom. He shook his aching head lethargically, finally deciding upon going to bed rather than continue dozing in the bath tub with the risk of drowning.

After rinsing himself with towels, his feet carried him to the bed, where he pulled on a pair of boxers and he sneaked under the sheets, falling asleep almost instantly, as if he hadn't slept in days, when it had been less than twelve hours since his last nap. Perhaps he was falling ill? He had no time to think about it, though, as his lids glued to each other and pushed him further into the darkness, where the bells kept ringing, only this time he was unable to wake up.

A knock at the door awakened him in the morning and a splitting headache invaded his skull as soon as he moved to answer the door. Instead, he muffled a groan and fought back, pulling on the cloak he'd discarded on the floor the other night before going to bed, before opening the door with a glare. Kisame was surprised to see Itachi in a state so close to a tough hang over and his morning grin evaporated. The Konoha nin looked terrible – his usually immaculate appearance was disheveled: his hair loose on his shoulders, his sharingan inactive, and there were deep, dark circles under his eyes in stark contrast to the sickly pale skin.

"Are you feeling okay, Itachi?" the blue-skinned man asked warily. "You don't look so well, you know."

"I'm fine." The Uchiha muttered under his breath, relieved that it was only his partner.

"The Leader assigned us a mission, but if you're not feeling well I can go by myself."

"No."

And with that, the door slammed in front of Kisame, who knew that Itachi would be ready to leave in less than fifteen minutes and that all he had to do now was wait. Inside his room, the leaf-nin sat on the bed, massaging his aching temples. He placed a hand over his mouth – he couldn't remember anything from the previous night, as if he'd drank more than Kisame himself, which was far from being true, because he hadn't tasted a single drop of alcohol since that sake he'd had in Snow. What had caused his current state was a mystery to him – most likely it was a virus, but poison wasn't really out of the question either. With someone like him, things like that were never out of the question.

Hours later, Kisame was walking alongside Itachi on a path through the woods toward Iwagakure. His condition seemed to have followed a steady decline until then, but the shark-nin knew there was nothing he could say to convince his partner it was better to do otherwise. While his concerns were starting to occupy his mind more than anything else, Itachi's senses caught something and he stopped, much to Kisame's momentary surprise. He hadn't expected any guards to show up so far from the border. It was a small squad, nonetheless – the usual three-man cell, probably chuunin returning home from a mission. Their curiosity was going to cost them if they were going to approach.

The two Akatsuki stopped, waiting for the ninja to make their entry, but the others seemed to have stopped as well. Itachi moved his leg cautiously to his side and touched a wire, which caused an entire net of wire ahead of them to glisten in the sunlight. He raised the tip of his straw hat and looked up at the trees, where only a single figure stood on a branch, looking down at him. When Kisame looked in the same direction, he noticed red hair encircling the ninja's head like a halo. The kunoichi jumped off the branch and rolled in the air, landing effortlessly in the middle of the wire net, fixing them with her silver orbs.

"Itachi." Shikyo said. "What are you two doing here?"

"That's Akatsuki business." Kisame replied in his partner's place.

"I can't let you pass."

Itachi deliberated in silence. The shrine they were supposed to retrieve a scroll from was in sight, behind a few trees. Shikyo must have been hired by some farseeing lord to guard the shrine, along with other ninja, strategically positioned around the site. Kisame made a step forward, swinging his Samehada. The woman stiffened, ready to repel any attack.

"Get out of the way." Itachi said, trying to avoid an unnecessary fight, as always, especially since this one had more than just one implication.

"We're all doing our jobs here." She replied in a deadpanned voice. "I won't step aside in front of you, Akatsuki." The girl continued, tightening her grip around a kunai.

"And there I thought you were a smart one." Kisame grinned.

Her eyes were fixed upon him especially – one move and he would unleash hell upon himself. Itachi took off his hat, holding it in his hand while looking down at the complex wire net she'd assembled so carefully – very much like the old Shikyo he knew – then back at their now enemy. Obviously, she hadn't been told to expect such dangerous visitors. Wire wasn't enough to hold them back and she was well aware of that fact.

Kisame stepped forward, plunging into a fierce attack. The kunoichi threw the kunai at him and jumped high into the air, looking down at the shark-like ninja. The kunai had missed its target just as intended, pulling the strategically arranged net after it and immobilizing Kisame in a whirl of wire. Of course, Itachi had seen the trap and wasn't going to waste his energy triggering it himself when Kisame's water clone could do that just as well.

The water clone dispersed, splashing against the ground. The lifeless wire fell over it and Shikyo landed a few feet away, watching the two Akatsuki cautiously. She stood up, knowing she would have to pit all of her skills against the two and still fail. The best she could do was fallback; run away, like all those cowards she had been related to. "_Nevermore_" she thought, starting to form hand seals that appealed to Itachi as very familiar. Dragon, Horse, Monkey, Boar… Rat. Of course.

"Sanzengarasu no Jutsu!"

The technique of the Scattering One Thousand Crows. Kisame listened curiously. He could hear croaks and flapping of wings somewhere near, but he couldn't tell exactly where. Itachi closed his eyes, knowing that for him there was only one way to repel the deadly crows without taking too much time. His partner could fend for himself with that gigantic charka-eating sword of his. He formed the hand seals and waited for the birds to show themselves. His eyes were locked with Shikyo's, on the other side of the scattering murder.

"Amaterasu."

The black fire elicited strangled cries from its winged victims as it consumed them entirely. Behind his back, Kisame was swinging Samehada, absorbing the chakra from which the crows were made effortlessly. However, despite their efforts, it seemed their numbers were interminable. Shikyo was standing her ground among the crows, casting them upon the two Akatsuki without showing any sign of distress at the great losses.

The murder of crows attacked strategically, all appearing to have their own free will but act under specific orders. Itachi acknowledged Shikyo's taking this technique so far. During his time in ANBU, all these crows could do was confuse the enemy and conceal the ally – by no means attack someone so viciously and in so many numbers at once.

"I am going to shave that pretty face of hers off!" Kisame muttered, changing his direction among the birds while using Samehada to keep them away from him.

Itachi intuited Kisame's plan and redirected his Amaterasu slightly, to provide cover for both him and his partner's back. He hated when things like this happened, but still, he hadn't actually expected the place to be unguarded. Shikyo saw the blue man coming for her, but she had to break the Jutsu to be able to move freely. Since it was already useless against the two, she did so and prepared for the melee attack.

Itachi deactivated his mangekyou as the crows disappeared in dark smoke. Kisame raised Samehada in the air, giving the woman no time to retreat and a devilish smirk appeared on the blue ninja's face. The sword descended hungrily upon her slender figure; however, it left behind no wound, as it should have with its ability to "shave". Kisame stared incredulously at the woman, on whose face was now an expression of surprise. Her hand rose to her stomach and she collapsed on the ground, unconscious.

The shark-nin kneeled next to her, confusion making his face look strange. Itachi came close to him, looking down at the unconscious kunoichi.

"I swear it hit her!" Kisame said.

"It did." Itachi approved. "But she used her bloodline limit."

"Heh?"

"She phased through your Samehada with her body, but the sword went right through her chakra system and rendered it useless."

"I had no idea such a bloodline limit even existed! She's still alive, then – shall I finish her?"

The Uchiha looked at the chakra depleted body for a few moments, deliberating quietly. A soft wind blew on his face, animating the dark locks on his forehead in a pleasant feeling on his fevered skin. Kisame was waiting for the answer, slightly perplexed at how much time it took Itachi to take a decision regarding this mere woman's life.

"No." he finally answered. "We shall take her with us."


	3. Chapter 3

****Special thanks to shinobi89 for reviewing!****

At first, she was only aware of the deep void inside of her, as if a part of her had been ripped out forcefully or dissolved. Her state of consciousness flickered on and off like a broken bulb and her body felt like wet paper. After vaguely remembering her confrontation with Akatsuki's Itachi and Kisame, her initial thought of having been hurt was dispelled by the lack of any kind of pain. Nonetheless, something was missing.

She could feel a slow, steady motion and she soon realized she was hanging with her head down, bent from the middle over something hard. When she finally opened her eyes, she met red; a red cloud on a black background. The connection of this cloud to the Akatsuki was slow to form in her mind and the drowsiness prevented her from moving any part of her body to explore more of that peculiar setting. She groaned, trying to move her head a little. A shaky image of a forest appeared in front of her eyes from between her cascading curly locks and a pair of moving feet on a path as she let her head fall back and look down. The images faded as she drifted back into unconsciousness and all was engulfed in black.

"Oi, Itachi." Kisame said. "I think she passed out again."

Kisame had been carrying Shikyo over his shoulder for quite a while now, wondering when she would wake up for good. Samehada had indeed hit the very core of her chakra system, absorbing it entirely. According to what he knew, it could take up to a whole month for her chakra to build up completely again, but until then, her body would remain weak and powerless like that of an infant.

"We'll stop here for the night."

Itachi seemed to have gotten better over the day. His skin had come back to its natural color and the dark circles under his eyes had faded to a shade of discreet grey. His tiredness was nothing more than the consequence of using Amaterasu to decimate Shikyo's murder of crows. Kisame followed his partner inside a small cave they'd used as a shelter many times before and where they even had a couple of blankets hidden.

The blue man leaned Samehada against a wall and put Shikyo on the ground. He stretched until his bones cracked and a grin reappeared on his face.

"I'll go get some fresh water."

The Uchiha settled on lighting the fire for the night using a minor Fire Jutsu and then took out some bread and dry meat from one of his pouches. Next to him, the woman groaned and opened her eyes, looking at him through half-open lids.

"Where am I?" she demanded huskily.

"So, she's awake again." Kisame grinned, having already returned from the nearby stream. "Do you think she's going to try and run away?"

"She can't." Itachi replied patiently, slicing the bread with a kunai and portioning the meat.

"Stop talking as if I weren't here." She muttered, sitting up with a frown of discomfort. "Where are you two taking me?"

Kisame smirked, although he had no idea what the Uchiha prodigy had in mind with that woman and it didn't seem like he was going to find out soon either. The redhead glared at him, embracing her knees. Itachi pushed some food in her direction, along with a curt order: "Eat."

"Did you put something in it so I don't run away?" she inquired, starting to eat casually.

"No."

"Bad idea."

"As if you could run away." Kisame scoffed, eating his own part of the food. "In your condition, you can't even stand. It would be fun to see you try run away."

His thunderous laughter made the cave vibrate and Itachi's head hurt again, but it soon passed and the echoes ceased, leaving them to continue their meal in silence. After finishing the food, Kisame and Shikyo went to sleep and Itachi stood guard at the entrance of the cave for the next few hours, until his partner woke up and took his turn. Standing guard was Kisame's most loathed task, as there was nothing to do except gawk at the stars, if any. Trying to catch glimpse of some through the tall canopy, he began snoring peacefully, not as loud as usual so as not to alert Itachi that he was sleeping during his night shift. Dozing like that, he eventually fell asleep for good and his breathing rhythm changed to a deeper, slower one.

Shikyo opened her eyes in the dark and looked around, slowly slithering from under the covers along the ground. She got up on shaky legs and looked around the cave for what Itachi and Kisame had probably taken from the shrine she was to protect. Her search inside Kisame's pouch left next to the wall proved useless and she figured Itachi must have the scroll. She didn't know if she had enough chakra to phase yet, but she approached the man quietly and held out a hand, praying she wasn't overestimating herself so rashly. Fortunately, her hand phased through his garments and his body effortlessly, until she felt something similar to a small scroll in a hidden pocket in his cloak. She retrieved it quickly and crept back toward the exit, holding it close to her chest.

Just when she was about to sneak past Kisame, a kunai flew past her face and sank in the wall right next to the shark's head, waking him up. She froze under his gaze as a grin spread on his face like a disease. Knowing there was nothing more she could do in her state, Shikyo handed the scroll to Kisame, who held out one huge hand, fixating her grimly. She turned to Itachi, who was sitting on his improvised bed, propped to the ground with one hand and with the other resting on his knee with another kunai, looking at her.

"What do you want with me?" she spat through gritted teeth. "I am not a toy you can carry around as you please, Uchiha."

"Sit down." He told her, putting the kunai aside. "I will tell you."

Kisame quirked a brow in disbelief: Itachi? Revealing his reasons for doing something? That was something he'd yet to see his partner do for someone else but him. Shikyo seemed to be just as incredulous about Itachi's intentions, but she sat next to where the fire was quietly going out and waited to hear what he had to say.

"I want you to continue your research on the sharingan."

"I already told you it's impossible for me to heal your eyes!" she said. "With or without research, they're in a state far too advanced for me to do anything!"

"I only said I want you to continue your research."

Shikyo looked into his eyes and suddenly realized the reason behind this request. She frowned, wondering if it could actually be what she thought it was, but she didn't dare ask him with Kisame paying attention so closely.

"What's in it for me?"

"What do you want?"

She thought about it for a few moments, wondering if he was actually willing to give her anything she wanted for such a matter. It somewhat hurt her to know he was willing to sacrifice so much for so little.

"I will have to travel with you wherever you go." She said. "I want to be an Akatsuki affiliate, not just luggage."

Itachi tilted his head slightly to the side, pondering her request. Kisame gawked at the woman, wondering if she was really dangerous enough to be one of them. She looked too weak and they had defeated her too fast. Surely she was no match for the Akatsuki standards, unless Itachi knew something about her he didn't.

"Very well. I will see what I can do about that."

"That means talking to the Leader, Itachi." Kisame muttered more to himself rather than his partner. "Besides, he might agree with her becoming one of us, but he will never allow a three-man team!"

"Leave that to me."

"We're heading to Amegakure then, eh?" the shark-nin pondered for himself once again.

The next morning all three of them were heading south toward Ame, with Shikyo walking between the two Akatsuki. By noon they had already crossed the border and they settled halfway from the village that night, tired from the journey, to enter Amegakure first thing in the morning. Their camp was an abandoned outpost, again, one of Kisame and Itachi's usual stops during missions. They spent the night there, this time all three of them standing guard in turns.

By the time they got to Ame, Shikyo had already recovered most of her physical strength, although her chakra levels were still very low. The thorough investigation at the gates of the village would have taken about an hour no less had it not been for the two Akatsuki accompanying the redhead, but the news of their arrival with a stranger would still reach Pein's ears before Itachi reached his office in the tallest tower in town. Nonetheless, the three headed to the Akatsuki base, where Konan was already expecting them.

They entered the tall, imposing central building around eight in the morning. The area was dark, lit only by the torches burning quietly on the walls. The rooms were hidden within the dark passages and the Akatsuki members were the only ones knowing their way around. Konan was expecting them in the entrance hall, sitting on a bench with her hands folded neatly in her lap. She stood up as they came through the door, water dripping from their soaked cloaks on the spotless floor.

"Good morning, Uchiha-san, Hoshigaki-san." The blue-haired woman said in a polite tone. "The leader would like to see you."

"Both?" Kisame asked nonchalantly in his usual, joke-like tone.

"Uchiha-san alone would be fine as well. If you will please follow me, Uchiha-san…" she invited him.

Kisame watched the two depart and disappear in the darkness down a corridor that led to a staircase, then turned to the redhead with a smirk.

"Guess it's just you and me, then. Come on, I'll take you to Itachi's room. Do I have to lock you in so you don't start wandering on these halls and get eaten or sacrificed by one of the members?"

"That won't be necessary." She told the blue-skinned ninja as she followed him down another dim corridor, wondering what the hell he was talking about.

They ascended a couple of stairs into an even darker area, where she found herself needing to follow the wall with one hand to make sure she was heading in the right direction. Kisame chuckled and turned his head to her as he continued to walk unimpeded.

"It's a little bit too dark for you, isn't it? Don't worry, we're almost there."

Kisame's way of saying 'don't worry' sounded much more like the way an ogre would say to a child 'I might not eat you'. Shikyo refrained herself from snapping back at him and they soon stopped in front of a door, which the Akatsuki pushed open, revealing a lilac room with dark accents. She stepped inside, feeling as if invading someone's intimacy, although there was no one there.

"Don't touch anything." Kisame warned her. "You can take a shower and get some rest. If I won't be back in two hours, Itachi will be. If anyone else enters, attack first, ask questions later. Got it?"

"Yeah, sure." She said, a bit confused by the 'attack first' part. After all, she had all the right to feel insecure, having been drained of all her chakra and left with practically no means of defense.

The shark closed the door behind him and she turned on the lights, walking around the simple, neat room for a few moments until she got used to it. The curtains were covering the window, giving everything a gloomy aspect, but she liked it better like that. Beyond those curtains was a world of rain and cold and she'd had enough of that for one day. Her hair and clothes were still soaked.

She entered the simple bathroom and closed the door, locking it so that no one would come in uninvited. The mirror above the sink reflected her disheveled aspect and she turned away, getting rid of her clothes before stepping into the shower for the much needed hot water treatment. Only when she stepped out she realized she didn't have any clean clothes. She wrapped herself in a clean towel and put her traveling clothes in her backpack before sitting on the bed, wondering what to do until one of the two came back. There were some books on the shelves against the wall along with various scrolls and items, but Kisame had warned her about touching Itachi's things, so she lay on the bed and started rethinking that whole situation over again.

What she didn't know was that a few floors above that one, more precisely the last one, Itachi was in the Leader's office, discussing her request. Pein was at the window, reading a classified archive file he'd dug up by means unknown from the Hokage's office in Konoha. Itachi stood on the other side of the wooden desk, while Konan had taken a seat in an opposite corner, resuming her usual position.

"It is rather unknown, this Kobura clan." The Leader said, putting the file on his desk before sitting down. "A small clan with an interesting kekkai genkai and nothing more. I see nothing in her past than an ancestry of cowardly betrayal. What you propose, Uchiha-san, is an unreliable situation. How do I know she will be loyal to me?"

"Perhaps this woman will not be loyal to you, Pein, but she will be to him and Uchiha-san is loyal to you." Konan interfered elegantly. "It is indirect loyalty, but still, loyalty."

"I hope you understand, Uchiha-san, that this is no matter of power, as the information I have about her proves that she is indeed a special individual, but I have no means of making sure she won't follow in the rest of her clan's steps. Can you?"

"I can provide indirect loyalty at least, like Konan-san said." Itachi replied calmly. "But Kobura Shikyo-san is a trustworthy person when hired for a job. She will not cower or give up unless offered a better opportunity."

"Which reminds me of Kakuzu." Pein said grimly. "Very well then. I will take some time to think about this most unexpected request. You will have my answer by nightfall. Dismissed."

Itachi nodded curtly in respect and stepped out of the office, heading down the halls to the stairs. The negotiations had ended sooner than he'd expected, with what seemed to be a positive outcome. Naturally, Pein needed time to present the situation to Madara, for it was he who decided if Shikyo could stay, as the true leader of the Akatsuki. To Madara it would be a matter of power, not loyalty, unlike in Pein's case. Eitherway, the odds appeared to be favorable.


End file.
